Dissident Voice

Contrary
to media cliches about "the silly season," this is a time of very
serious -- and probably catastrophic -- political maneuvers.

From
California to the U.N. building in New York City to the sweltering heat of
Iraq, the deadly consequences of entrenched power are anything but humorous.

Can
you remember watching a movie when some calamity is happening on the screen,
and laughter ripples across the darkened theater? You might wonder why people
are chuckling at the grievous misfortunes of others. To comfortable viewers, a
disaster can seem quite amusing.

The
market is hot for Hollywood extravaganzas that fill screens at multiplexes. The
spectacles of high-tech weapons and cinematic bloodshed are experienced as just
so much viewing pleasure. The unreality, we're told, is just for diversion --
people understand the difference between movie posturing and the real world.

But
this summer, news outlets are agog with real-life versions of what could be
called "Pulp Nonfiction."

Of
course there are plenty of assurances that people with power, and those
ascending to it, have their heads screwed on right. But the line between
make-believe and make-political-hay is so wispy that it has just about
disappeared.

"I
don't run around every day with a gun in my hand," Arnold Schwarzenegger
has said. "So I want kids to understand the difference." Fat chance,
when plenty of adults -- including Schwarzenegger -- don't seem interested in
making the distinction.

In
early July, with the Bush administration smoothing the way, the candidate-to-be
went to Iraq and recited lines from movies in front of cheering U.S. soldiers.

Stepping
forward to entertain troops in a summer palace that formerly belonged to Iraq's
dictator, Schwarzenegger had his opening line ready: "First of all,
congratulations for saying 'Hasta la vista, baby' to Saddam Hussein." Not
content to start with a phrase from "Terminator 2," the actor closed
with a line from his first Terminator movie: "I'll be back."

True
to his word, a few weeks later Schwarzenegger was back -- again conflating
movie dialogue with public discourse. After announcing his candidacy for
governor of California, he proclaimed: "Say 'hasta la vista,' Gray
Davis!"

There's
been plenty of media eye-rolling about the California recall, but much of the
coverage actually contributes to the wacky atmosphere it vaguely decries. Time
magazine's 11-page spread on Schwarzenegger begins with the headline "All
That's Missing Is the Popcorn." Actually, from a media standpoint, all
that's missing is much discussion of the widespread poverty, transportation
nightmares, unemployment, deteriorating health care and severe pollution that
are integral to daily life in California.

With
enough money and firepower behind them, we're led to believe, fantasies can
become realities: on campaign trails, in diplomacy and during military
occupation.

After
violating the U.N. Charter by invading Iraq, the U.S. government wants the
U.N.'s Security Council to bless the occupation and the "governing
council" that the occupiers handpicked. This is akin to someone murdering
all siblings and then demanding special consideration as an only child.

Sure,
some post-war difficulties in Iraq have gotten quite a bit of negative press
(though U.S. coverage generally understates the misery and repression
involved). But the American media spin does not acknowledge the extreme
arrogance of current U.S. proposals for U.N. backup of the occupation -- while
the White House would still call the shots in Iraq.

After
proceeding as though military might can solve just about anything, the Bush
administration is now trying a new tactic. The effort is to involve the United
Nations as a kind of air freshener for the stench of a rotting occupation. In
effect the manipulators in Washington want, retroactively, to get a "good
war-making seal of approval" from the U.N. Security Council. But war, with
continual deaths and serious injuries, is continuing in the form of escalating
resistance and counter-insurgency.

In
desperate need of public-relations cover from a U.N. mission in Iraq, the U.S.
government is offering the United Nations a role of subservience to the
conquerors. The message from Washington to the U.N. is: We have every right to
make this disastrous mess and perpetuate it. And now you have every
responsibility to follow our orders while providing humanitarian assistance --
circumscribed, of course, by our priorities as occupiers.

But
we get little media scrutiny of the fact that U.N. involvement would be largely
dictated by a rogue superpower.

And
so it goes: Why focus the media lens on reality when there's so much show-biz
puffery to go around?